Police in Las Vegas have issued a warrant for a DNA sample from Cristiano Ronaldo.

A statement issued Thursday by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department confirmed that the warrant has been sent to authorities in Italy. This is part of their investigation into the rape allegations made against him. Ronaldo denies assaulting Kathryn Mayorga at a Las Vegas hotel in 2009. "Mr Ronaldo has always maintained, as he does today, that what occurred in Las Vegas in 2009 was consensual in nature, so it is not surprising that DNA would be present, nor that the police would make this very standard request as part of their investigation," lawyer Peter S. Christiansen told to media. Ms Mayorga filed a report with Las Vegas police shortly after the alleged incident. She also reached an out-of-court settlement with Ronaldo involving a $375,000 (£288,000) payment for agreeing never to go public with the allegations. His lawyer says "this agreement is by no means a confession of guilt."

The Portuguese international has previously dismissed the allegation as "fake news" and earlier in October issued a statement through his Twitter account in which he "firmly" denied the accusation. Juventus, the Italian football club Ronaldo plays for, also released a statement on Twitter at the time expressing support for the Portuguese player.